Jeffrey Kahane, who recently completed his third season as music director of the Colorado Symphony, announced today that he is stepping down at the end of the 2009-10 season, following a two-year extension of his contract.

“There’s going to be sadness, and there’s certainly a lot of sadness on my end,” he said. “It’s not a decision I’m going to go out and celebrate, but I feel good, because I know it’s right for me and I know it’s going to be right for the orchestra.”

The roots of Kahane’s decision can be traced to March 2007, when the conductor was forced to cancel a series of appearances with the orchestra because of severe hypertension. Though he is back in good health now, the illness encouraged him to ponder the priorities in his career as both a conductor and international piano soloist.

“I had a real scare,” he said. “That forced me to really stop and take a look at my life and say, ‘You know what? You can’t do everything.’ A lot of of this was about the recognition that there are limits.”

The symphony has already formed a committee to search for Kahane’s successor, and it will meet for the first time in two weeks. There is no fixed timetable for the process but the orchestra hopes to name someone before the opening of the overhauled Boettcher Concert Hall, possibly in 2012.

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